Day 2 ish...

Well peoples, I am uber le tired tonight. It was another big day so I'm just going to write a brief little note.

Today Arlene took me back downtown and we attempted to get a tour of Parliment but the lines were too long so we gave up. We walked around the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and it again reminded me what a great country we have and how many people have given time, money, and even there lives without others understanding their full sacrifice. We also did a more thorough look around in the ByWard Market. I could spend some serious cash there, but thankfully my will power was strong enough and I made it out unscathed. We visited the Canadian Mint, but due to my cheapness and a lack of time we didn't do the full tour. I did however get to hold a 24K gold bar weighing roughly 28 pound. The security guard told me that it was worth about half a million. I wanted to take it home with me as a souvenir but as it was chained to a concrete pedestal and there was a military dude standing right beside me it didn't quite work out.

Around 2 I met up with Chris again and we drove down to see the Prime Minister's house. We almost missed it haha. Thankfully, there was a strong RCMP presence and we were tipped off just in time. We then took in the Canadian War Museum. It is so hard not to be patriotic when surrounded by stories of Canada's contributions in WWI and WWII amongst many other wars, battles, and peace keeping missions. While touring the museum we had the pleasure of talking to a gentleman who served during the Cold War. He volunteers at the museum and wanders around telling people about what he has experienced. I felt so honoured to have someone who put their life on the line for me want to talk to me and ask me questions about my life. After the war museum, we went to the Museum of Civilization. It was a very cool museum with an entire floor that had replica houses, shops, schools, etc from significant periods in Canada's history and from major regions in Canada. It was much like the Western Development Museum but on a much greater scale. Inside of the Museum of Civilization there was a small subsection dedicated to the history of the postal service. It was also very intriguing. The most eye watching area was a room in which stamps from way back through to today were displayed.

The weather was significantly less pleasant today but overall it was a great day. Again, I have learned a lot, seen a lot, and even had some time to just enjoy nature.

Much love and sweet dreams,
Julia